Shadow Chronicles book 4: The Return
by moonshadow2012
Summary: Its been five years World Division has taken over. Its up to Phineas to lead a group of rebels in a last-ditch effort to save the world...but everythings changed, Phineas has. Can he pull off one last miracle to save his home?
1. Prologue

**Okay so a couple of things before I start this book. I know it looked like Liz rediscovered Phineas was her step-brother and that was a big mistake on my part, but I'm working it to my advantage. Liz can't stand the fact that she and Phin are related so she's in denial and freaks out whenever someone mentions it. Next, in the epilogue when Phineas was writing to Ferb in the fake letter and he referenced AT2D, the reason he remembered was Carter's control over his mind shook those memories loose. Amnesia is a suppression type thing. Also, you can't trust me. Not with books. I'm very forgetful and some things aren't gonna make sense. Bear with me. If you ask, I will edit some things though. You can ask about any book I've written, even if they're done. I care about what you guys think, so I will do things to make it better for you. Last thing – I was going to make this book three years later, but I've decided on five instead. Which somehow puts Phineas at seventeen, Isabella at sixteen, Ferb at twenty, and everyone else in relation to those guys. Thanks for reading and reviewing (those of you who do) your feedback means the world to me. Enjoy!**

**Prologue**

The girl was on the bus, staring out the window with her chin resting on her hand. Her eyes had a faraway look in them, like she was somewhere else entirely. Which was pretty close to the truth. After a messy breakup with her jerky boyfriend, she had moped around the house for a couple weeks until her parents had forced her out of town – out of the actual freaking country – to a summer camp in the Rocky Mountains.

She hadn't even wanted to go rock climbing anyway. What was there that tempted people so much? Yeah you got to the top and the view was great, but you could get that on a postcard at any dime store in any of the places the mountains touched. And when you got to the top, there was the view and oh yeah – more rocks. And then you had to climb all the way back down.

She sighed. It wasn't that she didn't like the idea of climbing a mountain. On any other day she probably would have jumped for joy at the opportunity. But now what she needed wasn't an adventurous climb to the highest point in North America, what she needed was to go home. And not Mexico home, with her parents and younger brother and so-called friends. Home home, with her real friends she had left behind without saying goodbye and the summers that lasted forever and the kick-butt girl scouts and the best day ever. She wanted Danville. She wanted Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher and Addison Sweetwater and Perry and even Candace and that weird pharmacist that occasionally stalked them.

"Homesick again?" the raven-haired girl looked up at the sound of a familiar voice. The boy sitting next to her was taller than she was, with a hoodie and baggy jeans hiding his features. She smiled wanly.

"Normal clothes just don't work on you." She replied.

"Can't say I didn't try." He shrugged. "But you are homesick, aren't you Isabella?" Isabella Garcia-Shapiro sighed heavily.

"yeah, I really am. Where have you been? I haven't seen you in at least two years." She frowned, glaring angrily. "Do you know how hard it was for me not to have anyone that I could talk to besides Pinky, who isn't even there half the time?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The boy replied, holding up his hands. "I was really busy helping the resistance in Danville."

"The what?" Isabella asked, instantly concerned for her friends' safety. "Are you okay? Are the others okay? What's going on?"

"The World Division took over the US, Isa." The boy said solemnly. "But they did it so efficiently no one on the outside even knows. Phineas and his band of rebels have been fighting them for five years."

"What? I have to help them! Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Phineas told me not to. And I didn't think you were ready. But now might be the only chance we have to save everyone. I have intel that suggests the WD is up to something a lot bigger than world domination."

"_Bigger_ than world domination?" Isabella gasped.

"Yes. We need all the help we can get. Which means _your_ help, Isabella. Do you trust me to keep you safe?" The boy leaned closer, holding out a hand. After a moment's hesitation, Isabella placed her hand in his.

"Of course I do, Beovulph." She replied.

The next second, both teens were gone. As if they had never been there at all.

**So….yeaah. What did you think? I'm hoping that this one will make me proud. How do you think it's going so far?**


	2. Chapter 1

**Okay so this is the first chapter of The Return. But – you already knew that. I just have a habit of stating the obvious on and off paper. Yeeeeeaaaah. So, how have you been? Question, how many people actually read my little rants? I wonder if that number would get bigger if I typed the word PRIZE PRIZE PRIZE PRIZE PRIZE PRIZE PRIZE multiple times in huge letters like I just did. How many of you are reading now? I'm just messing with you. Hey, how many of you guys out there want to see Phineas and Ferb kick the sorry butts of Ferb's cousins? And how many of you guys love Ferb's platinum blond cousin's hair? Very rock-starish and he probably can't see out of that eye XD Yeah. Go Team PF-or-whatever-they're-calling-it! Oh, and just a little bit of information for you people who read these things, the theme song for this book is going to be 'I Will Not Bow' by Breaking Benjamin, which is the song in this chapter. Kind of Phineas' pov through this whole thing. Yeah. He's changed a lot from Mr. Sunshine-and-Happiness. (Reference to one of my other stories that I may or may not publish) Enjoy!**

**Chapter One**

Phineas pov

_FALL!_

"DOWN!" I commanded, throwing myself to the ground as the walls shook around us from the impact. My chin smacked against the concrete and I bit back a curse. The others around me looked shaken. They looked at me with wary expressions as we pulled ourselves into sitting positions behind any cover we could find. They were all waiting on me for instructions.

"Phineas, what do we do? They're blocking the exit." The young girl at my side asked, her eyes wide with fear and shock. She was so young, but she was the leader of one of the three teams made up by the rebels. The members of her team squatted or kneeled behind her. The shortest one stood on his legs, his entire body small enough to be blocked by the overturned fridge we were hiding behind. I looked to the others.

"I'll make a hole, you guys follow me out. Dystopian's team, cover the outside edges and the rear. My team, shadow them. Sera's team will stay towards the middle." I told them. Another blast destroyed a section of the brick wall behind us and no one argued. Bracing myself for the shock and summoning all my energy, I closed my eyes, then sprang up, throwing my left arm – the one that _wasn't_ holding a large gun – forward and out. A wall of invisible power that turned to flames when it touched the ground sped out from me, throwing our opponents onto their backs. "GO!" I yelled.

_Now the dark begins to rise_

_Save your breath it's far from over_

_Leave the lost and dead behind_

_Now's your chance to run for cover_

We ran towards the alleyway that housed our escape tunnel. It was our only chance. Otherwise we were outmanned, outgunned, and backed up against a physical wall. I shot off two more fiery telekinetic blasts before I started to feel fatigued and had to resort to the plasma blaster I had created myself. The others had similar models. That was all I created now. Weapons of war.

Most of the rebels are Shadows. Shadows are humanoid life forms with supernatural abilities. Like me, for instance. I am an Ember, which means I have more power than the average Shadow. I am also what is called an Explosive Telekinetic. That means that whenever I use my maximum power, my powers are tinted or consumed with fire, depending on my emotions. If I'm really angry, my entire body will be consumed by fire.

"Phineas!" I turned to see my step-sister, Liz Jackson, pinned down by two men with machine guns. A wave of anger swept through me and I thrust my fist forward, propelling a concentrated mix of fire and telekinetic power at the two men, pushing them back and setting them instantly on fire. They'd be lucky if they escaped with third-degree burns. I realized the others were slowing down, waiting for me with torn looks on their faces.

"Go!" I shouted, gesturing for them to move on as I ran back to help Liz. I helped her to her feet and we took off after the others. I fired off a couple shots over my shoulder to make sure no one would get close. Liz turned and thrust her right fist in a straight line between the buildings on either side of us, creating a green energy barrier between us and our pursuers.

_I don't want to change the world_

_I just want to leave it colder_

_Light the fuse and burn it up_

_Take the path that leads to nowhere_

"My, my how you two have grown." A woman's voice caused us to whirl around, coming face-to-face with Karo, a cyborg woman who was a member of the High Command, the top branch of the World Division under the Master. She held out her four mechanical arms towards us, five sharp spikes protruding from each of them. The spikes started spinning as she advanced on us slowly.

"We are so dead." Liz commented.

"Not on my watch." I replied, typing in a code as I raised the plasma blaster towards her. Karo snatched it away from me, smirking.

"Did you really think you could shoot me? I'm insulted." Karo laughed. I didn't say a word, lifting my hands slowly above my head. Liz looked at me in disbelief as Karo cackled triumphantly.

"Phineas?" Liz gasped.

And then the gun exploded

_All is lost again_

_But I'm not giving in_

"Run!" I commanded as smoke filled the air. I grabbed Liz's shoulders and pushed her ahead of me, running blindly through the alleyway and hoping I wasn't running us straight into Karo's arms. Literally. Liz coughed, her eyes squinting in pain as ash and embers stung both of us. Our minds touched for a moment as we ran, whispered thoughts shared that we wouldn't dare speak out loud.

_This is the third close call this week. How much longer will our luck hold out?_

"There." I pushed her towards the tunnel entrance the others had already passed through. She stumbled inside, turning to me as I prepared to climb inside with her. Before I could, a stabbing pain cut into my ankle, and I was lifted upside down to face Karo. Her face was black with soot and ashes, a murderous expression meeting my eyes.

"You little fool." She murmured.

_I will not bow_

_I will not break_

_I will shut the world away_

_I will not fall_

_I will not fade_

_I will take your breath away_

_FALL!_

I struggled uselessly, wondering if I had enough strength left to use telekinesis without passing out. Karo shot a long spike out of one of her other arms, aiming it directly at my heart. She thrust it forward and I concentrated, holding it six inches from my chest as my body hung limp. The spike wobbled, black spots dancing before my eyes. Karo tightened her grip on my ankle and I cried out, losing my concentration. The spike shot forward.

Just as it began to dig into my chest, a chain wrapped itself around it and pulled it aside, leaving a bloody trial in my skin. An icy coating spread down Karo's arm from the chain, and she dropped me in shock. I hit the ground and lay there, exhausted and stunned. A shadowy figure stepped in front of me, pulling the chain back and twirling it in a circle. He was a boy, probably around my age and around five inches taller than my 5' 8''. The chain he held was almost as long as he was tall. He was wearing black jeans and a black leather jacket, with sunglasses hiding his eyes. His hair was a short buzz cut with black and orange stripes.

"Who are you?" Karo asked, shaking her iced-over arm with no effect whatsoever. The boy gave no response except to snap the chain, letting it hang towards the ground as fire spread over it. Karo's eyes lit up with the thought of revenge and she heated up her iced arm, melting the coating and making a pool of water on the ground. "Bring it on, kid." She laughed.

_Watch the end through dying eyes_

_Now the dark is taking over_

_Show me where forever dies_

_Take the fall and run to heaven_

The boy waited as Karo shot two lasers at him. Dodging with the grace and accuracy of a professional as well as shielding me from being hit as I struggled to sit up, the boy evaded her shots easily. He snapped the chain towards her, tying together two of her arms. The other two shot forward, grabbing the chain and pulling it and the boy upwards. She stabbed at him, but he let go, dropping to the ground before holding up a hand. The chain twisted like a snake, moving away from her and flying back to him.

"A Shadow? What are you, a Manipulator?" Karo asked, stabbing at him again. The boy back-flipped out of her reach, landing in a crouch just in front of me.

"Personifier." He corrected in a calm voice. As if to demonstrate, he let go of the chain, letting it hover in midair. With a few movements of his fingers, it struck out at Karo like a cobra, coming within eight inches of her face before one of her arms snapped up and caught it. The chain wrapped around her body, pinning all her arms to her. Karo suddenly screamed in pain, jerking like she was being electrocuted, which was probably what was happening. She dropped to one knee before looking up, hate filling her dark eyes. She opened her mouth, dozens of little robotic insects flying out of it, heading towards us. The boy held up his hands again, and the chain immediately returned to him.

_All is lost again_

_But I'm not giving in_

The boy held out the chain, spinning it in a fast circle in front of us so the insects wouldn't have a direct route. That didn't stop them from going around it, though. I grimaced, wincing in pain as the insects stung my flesh, searing me with lasers and drawing steady streams of blood with their needle-like teeth. The boy snapped the chain back and forth like a whip, freezing or exploding them in groups, but it wasn't enough. There were too many of them, and more kept coming. Fed up with getting eaten alive, I stood up, staggering over to the boy and brushed his shoulder with my fingers before moving in front of him. He looked at me, slightly concerned and a little confused. I closed my eyes, then pushed out a major telekinetic wave from me on all sides, pushing the insects and Karo away and collapsing most of the two buildings on either side of us. My back arched and I was lifted a couple feet into the air, my muscles tightening against my will. I fell back to the ground, landing hard with a soft moan.

The boy touched my shoulder and I opened my eyes, my vision tinted with black at the edges. He had been protected from the wave with the shield I had put around him when I brushed his shoulder. He didn't say a word, but years with Ferb Fletcher, my silent, green-haired, mechanically inclined step-brother had taught me how to listen to things that weren't said out loud. Nobody could understand people's unspoken thoughts better than me – excluding Ferb, who was a Telepathic Technopath and could read minds. I stood up painfully, nodding at the boy.

"You're right, we don't have much time before she gets back here. You can come to our base, they won't find you there." I said.

_I will not bow_

_I will not break_

_I will shut the world away_

_I will not fall_

_I will not fade_

_I will take your breath away_

I led him over to the tunnel, crawling through it slowly until I got to the drop-off. I motioned for him to go ahead of me. As soon as he had dropped through the opening, I set the timer on one of the small explosive devices I had on my belt. Quickly, I followed him down just as the device detonated, collapsing the tunnel and blocking that secret entrance forever.

At the bottom of the drop-off was the rest of the rebels, dubbed Destiny's Children after the former band of brain-washed kids, most of which had escaped from the World Division. I had been a part of that original group, and I was the one who formed the rebellion out of my fellow former prisoners and my old friends who were still free. There were three teams, one that mostly did spy work, avoiding confrontations if they could, one that did breaking-and-entering and destruction and could fight pretty well, and one that specialized in all-out attacks on the enemy. The attack group, led by Dystopian, a seventeen-year-old in a black cape with dark clothes made out of a special indestructible material, and only had two present members including the leader, were surrounding the boy with the chain. He was backed up against the wall, fingering his chain uneasily as if he didn't know whether to attack or not.

"Phineas, who is this?" Vanessa Doofinshmirtz, a twenty-year-old girl wearing a black tank top and mini skirt asked, sounding like she wanted a negative answer so she could kill him. A long red trail of blood streaked down her leg from a shallow wound in her thigh.

"It's okay, he saved my life." I said. Vanessa and Dystopian backed off a couple inches reluctantly. I turned to the boy. "I'm Phineas, the leader of Destiny's Children. What's your name?" He smirked. "Yes, Destiny's Children. Long story."

"Dallas." The boy said.

"Like the city in Texas?" I asked. He frowned. "Okay, okay, you're not from Texas. Sorry for jumping to conclusions."

"Wow, he's like a replacement Ferb." Liz snickered. At that, I turned towards her, pushing her up against the wall.

"Don't you ever. Say that. Again." I threatened evenly.

_And I'll survive_

_Paranoid_

_I have lost the will to change_

_And I am not proud_

_Cold-blooded fake_

_I will shut the world away_

"You have no right to talk. You didn't lose Ferb like I lost Ellie." Liz strained under my telekinetic gaze. I pushed harder, the wall cracking beneath her.

"You're right. I didn't lose Ferb, he left me for his mom. Not that I care about _that_ – I even encouraged it. He was getting away from the coming horror, great. He would be safe. But then he didn't call me, didn't video chat anymore, didn't even text or chat on the internet. He never visited – not once. He didn't even try to keep contact. At least you know Ellie loved you, and never would have left you if she had a choice. At least you know that she would never let anything separate you, in life or in death. At least you have the comfort of knowing that she's happy and safe and that she's probably looking down on you from heaven. I don't. My brother, my closest friend in the world, _abandoned_ me. And if you think for one second that I don't feel that pain _every second_ of every day, eating away at me, then you're dead wrong." I let her drop to the floor, turning to the others who were staring at me with a mixture of shock and fear in their eyes.

"Phineas…" Sera reached out to me, touching my arm. I looked down at her and my eyes softened.

"Sorry." I said. "Dallas can stay with us for the night if he wants. If not, Josh and Addison will take him to the exit shaft at the edge of the city – the one on the _opposite_ side than the one we were just on. The rest of us will go back to the base and wait it out for a couple days, depending on what Perry and Gretchen can pick up from the spyware we installed inside Carter's computer. Let's get going before Karo finds a way to clear the tunnel."

The others nodded, moving down the tunnel towards our base, which was the former headquarters of my pet platypus, Perry. He was on the spy team to keep track of the younger girls – Suzy Johnson, Sera, and an original Destiny's Child, Kirsten – and Gretchen, a former Fireside Girl with two left feet, and a notorious disaster magnet. Josh and Addison Sweetwater, another former Fireside Girl, were the two remaining members on my team, the 'vandal' team. Liz was also on that team. As we made our way through the tunnel, Dallas caught up to me and tilted his head quizzically.

"You'll stay with us until nightfall. If you want to leave, it'll be best for you to have darkness on your side." I clarified. He nodded, moving away from me as I slowed down, pulling Dystopian aside. "Where is Beovulph?" I asked. "He was supposed to be here for that one." Dystopian shrugged uneasily. Beovulph, Dystopian's best friend, was the final member of his team. With a bad record of going AWOL without telling anyone.

"He was here last night. Said something about getting more help." Dystopian replied. "I think he left around eight." I frowned.

"Help? Where would he get help?" I wondered.

"Maybe he went to talk to Ferb and Emma's gang. They are Shadows, aren't they?" I frowned deeper at this thought. Seeing Ferb after five years was not an appealing option for me.

"If he shows up, tell him that next time we plan something big, he better be there." I sighed. "Not that it will do any good if he wants to leave." Dystopian touched my forearm sympathetically.

"You look awful. Why don't you have Kirsten take a look at your ankle when we get back?" He suggested.

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. I…I don't know. It's been five years and we're no closer to stopping the World Division than we were when we started this whole thing." I sighed again. "I just need some rest and I'll be fine."

"Sure, Phin. Take a break for a couple hours. I'll take care of things around here." He nodded. I smiled.

"Thanks, Dystopian. Also…I think I'm going to pass out from using my powers in about twenty seconds."

"Good to know."

_I will not bow_

_I will not break_

_I will shut the world away_

_I will not fall_

_I will not fade_

_I will take your breath away_

_And I'll survive_

_Paranoid_

_I have lost the will to change_

_And I am not proud_

_Cold-blooded fake_

_I will shut the world away_

_FALL!_

**What did you think? Just a little introduction to Phineas and Ferb's relationship in this book, as well as a first appearance for vcawarrior's oc, Dallas, and a second appearance for Kirsten (I messed up and typed Kristen in the last book), cmcrox11's oc. They will be appearing a lot in this book, as will the other outer oc's Dystopian (irken24), Beovulph (the High Lord of Terra), Amber (Phinbella Fan13), and Aria Flynn (Fanboy's Fangirl I think is their penname right now. Correct me if I'm wrong). If I missed anyone, stab me, I am sooo sorry. Also, I have another outer oc in the making. Wow I have a lot of those guys. I am so happy. Yeah. So this also is kind of a little introduction to what's going on in Danville between the World Division and Destiny's Children. And yes, not all of them escaped. More on that later. Anyway. REVIEW. That is an order.**


	3. Chapter 2

**Here we go. Second chapter of The Return. I was very happy with the first chappie, so let's see how this one goes. Go, go, go. I like that word. Also, there's going to be some language in this book, so don't hate. It just fit. Short-term spoiler – Phineas vs. Beovulph! Whoo hoo! So fun. Anyway. Enjoy!**

Isabella's pov

I blinked and we were in an alley just inside the city of Danville. I recognized it as the place we had begun our journey through the inner workings of the city five years ago. I shivered in remembrance. That did not end well for any of us. Unfortunately, it was also the last time I saw many of my friends.

Other than the alley, what I could see of the city looked completely different. Grey buildings with cracked windows and charred rubble surrounding them replaced the squeaky-clean new-looking buildings I remembered. The pavement was cracked and sometimes missing in huge chunks. Wrecked cars with busted-up windshields and dented or otherwise vandalized doors and hoods were parked on the side of the streets, paint cracked and metal rusted until they looked like only a vague shadow of their former selves. There were huge gaps in the lines of buildings upon buildings where the debris of collapsed buildings stood.

There were no people in sight.

"What happened here?" I breathed.

"The World Division happened." Beovulph replied, moving to my side. "This is their capitol, kind of. Or, as we like to call it, Ground Zero. This is where everything started." I looked at him.

"But…none of the other cities we passed through looked like this." I protested, not wanting to believe my eyes. "We drove through a lot of them on our way to the rock climbing camp." Beovulph nodded.

"The World Division wants to make it look like everything's the same, and there hasn't been a hostile takeover. Everyone in the US is sworn to secrecy. As in – you tell you die. Plus, Karo is hooked in to the World Wide Web, and she can delete anything you try to get out there."

"And then you." I muttered. Suddenly, someone caught my eye on the street. A man was walking swiftly down the cracked pavement, something clutched tightly in his arms. Desperate for some contact with my old hometown, I jogged up to him. "Hello? Hey, wait!" I called. The man stopped, turning slowly to face me when he realized he was the only one I could possibly be talking to. "My name is Isabella Garcia-Shapiro. Could you please tell me exactly what's going on here?" I asked. He looked up at me, a tired look on his hopeless face.

"You're new around here, aren't you?" He asked.

"Yes, yes I am." I replied. "Why?"

"The entire United States has been taken over by the World Division. Danville is under the jurisdiction of Carter Henele. Our only hope is Destiny's Children and the other rebels." He sighed and turned away slowly. "I don't know how you got here, but your best bet is to go back there immediately."

"Who are Destiny's Children?" I asked.

"They're a group of rebels who formerly belonged to the World Division. They all have a price on their heads. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work." His figure was hunched over and he looked around eighty. Making people like him work was a crime in itself.

"Wait." I stopped him. "Do you know anyone named Phineas Flynn?" The man's eyes widened and he backed away, staring at me in horror.

"Stay-stay away from me!" He yelled, running off with surprising speed for someone of his age.

"Wait! What are you running from?" I called, but he was already gone.

"He's running from you." Beovulph sighed. "I told you, things have changed, Isabella. Even mentioning Phineas' name can get you arrested and tortured for information, even if you have none." I looked at him gravely.

"What is going on here? Why haven't I heard from anyone in the past five years except for you? Where's Ferb? Why isn't he in on this?" I demanded.

"Ferb has been living in London with his mother…"

"For the past five years. Of course." I sighed. "Where's Phineas? I need to talk to him." Instead of answering, Beovulph took out a small metal marble from his pocket and squeezed it before hurling it over my head and into one of the abandoned cars. I screamed as the car exploded, the shock wave throwing me to the ground. "What was that…?" I began, just as a group of around twenty men dressed in black suits with huge guns in their hands rushed us from all sides. Beovulph pulled out his sword and swung it in an arch, causing the ground to shatter under their feet like glass. I scrambled to find my footing, pressing my back up against the wall of the alley.

I hadn't used my powers in years.

"Hey, look at this. We found a lady rebel." One of them sneered at me. Glaring, I shot a web of energy at him, hitting him in the chest and slamming him back against the opposite wall. I clenched and unclenched my fist.

"Ow." I muttered. "I am so out of Shadow shape."

"Get the mutant girl!" The leader told three of his men. "We'll handle the boy." They rushed Beovulph, who had no trouble fighting them off. A small circle surrounded him that the soldiers seemed scared to go in.

They shot at him instead.

With lightning-fast reflexes and movements that I wasn't even sure should be physically possible, Beovulph used his sword to block all the energy shots or rockets. I watched, impressed. That was one durable sword. Unfortunately, the three soldiers hadn't forgotten about me. The butt of one of the guns slammed into my skull and I fell to the ground, stars blurring my vision. I opened my eyes to the mirage-ish shape of a barrel being pointed in my face. Shoving my fist inside the barrel, I aged it into dust, which got all over my new jeans. To be honest, I was past caring. My mind only threw up the fact so I wouldn't focus entirely on freaking out over three very muscular men trying to kill me.

It wasn't working all that well.

I slammed a fist into one of the men's ankles, sending a shock through his body that created a sort of cryo-stasis for him to rest in while I figured out how to take out his two teammates. Not taking any chances as their buddy dropped, motionless, to the ground, one of the men grabbed my wrists, holding them far apart as he lifted me to my feet. I struggled against him, trying to aim when I wasn't facing him. The bastard was incredibly good at dodging my shots.

"Beovulph!" I yelped as the remaining soldier stuck his gun an inch from my face. His finger tightened on the trigger and I closed my eyes, bracing myself. A gunshot rang out.

…

Blood was everywhere.

On the gun, on the pavement – but mostly on the body on the ground.

Which was not mine.

So I should have been extremely happy.

But it's hard to be happy when someone just got killed in front of you.

By your childhood best friend who you thought wouldn't hurt a fly if it bit his eyeball.

After he shot the guy who was about to shoot me, Phineas vaulted over my head, also shooting the guy behind me. After that, he shoved me towards a doorway muttering something about me hiding while he finished up here. My mind numb, I stumbled through the doorway into a small room holding a couch, a small mattress on the floor, and a stove. One of those small, wood-burning ones they used to use way back when. It was completely dark except for a bare bulb on the ceiling. The windows were completely boarded up, blocking my view of the carnage outside.

"Isabella? Is that you?"

I turned to see a Japanese woman in her early twenties with long black hair. She was wearing a grey pantsuit like the man outside, but hers seemed slightly more fashionable. On her head was a frayed blue bow. She was holding a baby in her arms while a toddler peeked out from behind her legs.

"Stacy?" I gasped. Stacy Hirano smiled at me.

"It's been so long…but I guess I shouldn't be glad to see you in this place." Stacy's smile dimmed just a bit.

"Are these your children?" I asked, changing the subject after an awkward pause. Stacy nodded.

"This is Codon, and his big sister Candy." She smiled again, but this time there were tears in her eyes. "Candy is named after her godmother, Candace. I haven't seen her since the World Division took over."

"What happened to Candace? Is she in the resistance with Phineas?" I asked. Stacy didn't meet my eyes.

"No. No she's not." She said. She turned to the little girl. "Candy? You and Kevin go play, okay? Stay away from the windows and doors and stay where Mommy can hear you." Candy took Codon in her arms and trotted out of the room.

"Wow. She looks just like you." I said. Stacy sighed.

"Yeah. I just hope Destiny's Children can get things back under control soon so she can at least have a semi-normal childhood." Stacy looked into my eyes. "Isabella, I don't know how you got here, but you need to leave. This isn't Danville like you remember – nothings the same. Destiny's Children and the World Division are at war here and you don't want to get in the middle of that."

"I'm not leaving. I want to help." I told her.

"Where the hell have you been?" Phineas slammed the door behind him as he and Beovulph stepped inside. Beovulph looked at him calmly.

"I went to get help, Phineas. Calm down." He replied. Phineas was livid.

"We needed you the other day and you weren't there. Liz and I were almost killed." Phineas shouted. "If you're going to be a part of this team, you have to _be_ here when we need you! This isn't a club you just go to on and off, this is an _army_, we are at _war_. And if you can't see that, then get out of here for good next time."

"Listen, you self-righteous bastard. If you think I don't care about winning the war as much as you do, you're too blind to be a good leader. At least I'm actually concerned about the fact that we don't have nearly enough people to fight the World Division head on. If you want to know what I'm doing, just ask. I hate to break it to you, but you're not always right." Beovulph countered in a smooth, easy tone. Phineas' face turned red.

"This isn't a game. We needed you and you didn't even bother to tell us you were bailing! Dystopian doesn't even really have a team without you! If you can't be there for your best friend, who will you be there for?" He demanded.

"Dystopian can take care of himself unlike some people I know." Beovulph shot back. "And I wasn't bailing. I told you that raid was a bad idea and that I wasn't going to take part in such an act of pure idiocy. If that isn't letting you know, I have no idea what I can do."

"You can stop being so secretive all the time!"

"You can stop acting like a dictator. If you wanted an army of robotic minions that do whatever you say, why don't you give yourself hypnotism and become the next Carter Henele?"

"Don't you DARE compare me to him. I am not him!"

"If you say so."

"What is so important that you have to disappear every time we plan a massive strike, anyway?" Phineas shouted.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Beovulph asked him, gesturing to me. As our eyes met for the first time in five years, I was stunned by how different Phineas was. Where there was usually joy, confidence and consideration, there was now scars, pain, and the burden of leadership when you didn't know what to do. It was like I didn't even know him anymore.

"Isabella?" Something sparked in those eyes. Something I remembered. But as quickly as it had appeared, it died again. He turned to Beovulph. "What the hell were you thinking bringing her here?" He asked.

"I was thinking that if we didn't get some help soon, we were gonna get our butts kicked." The immortal replied. Phineas looked at me again, his eyes cold and calculating, with just the tiniest hint of concern for me.

"You can be on the intelligence team with Sera, Suzy, Kirsten, Gretchen, and Perry." He said, walking towards the door on the other side.

"No." I said. He turned back to me, and eyebrow raised.

"What?" He asked. I gulped.

"No, I don't want to be on the intelligence team." I said. "I want to be on Dystopian's team." Phineas turned completely around, something unrecognizable flashing in his eyes.

"_What?_" He snapped. I shuddered, flinching away from him.

"I want to be on Dystopian's team with Beovulph." I said quietly. "You said they needed more people, and I can help."

"No, Isabella, you don't understand. Dystopian's team is the attack team. They have the most dangerous job out of all of us." Phineas told me as if he really, really, really didn't want me to do this. I straightened my shoulders.

"I can handle it." I told him, then added, "Let me help you." Phineas frowned, thinking about it for a long time. Finally, he nodded, just once. I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding, feeling a mixture of fear and relief that he hadn't forced me out of my decision. He turned on his heels and headed for the door again.

"Come on." He said. "We need to get out of here as soon as we can or we'll put Stacy's family in more danger than they're already in." Beovulph and I followed him out, my head buzzing with thoughts I didn't want to face, and feelings I didn't want to admit were right. Phineas had changed. I could only hope there was some part of the boy I used to love still inside of him.

**Yay! Izzy's joining Destiny's Children! And don't think Aria has let go of her goal to kill the Healer, oh no. Carter's band of merry child soldiers will be playing a huge role in this story. Also, Phineas is only upset about Izzy pretty much trying to kill herself. He really does care about people, he's just learned to turn it off. Cute Phinny and Perry chapter up next, and then we get to see why Ferb 'abandoned' his friends in Danville. Speaking of Ferb, I have a pic I drew of Ferb and Amber that I'm going to put as my avatar as soon as I get finished trying to touch it up on my computer. Picture editing and video making programs on my PC don't like me. But I will let you see the pic cause I'm sooooo proud of it! Yay! REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Third Chappie! Not much to say about this one, but it's probably gonna be short. It's not a filler, this is actually really important to the plot, so don't forget about it. I'm really looking forward to reading your reviews for this XD It was actually just supposed to be Perry and Phinny cuteness, but it turned into this big thing and I was like 'what the heck?'. So yeah. Anyway, you'll probably be able to pick out the important bits. It's NOT mass chaos, because I did edit this time. Enjoy!**

Perry pov

I made sure the little girls were asleep before trotting over to Dystopian and pulling on his cape. He looked down and smiled softly.

"Hey Perry." He said. I raised an eyebrow and he shook his head. "Phineas isn't here. He stayed just long enough to make sure Isabella was comfortable, then left."

He looked over at the others – Liz and Josh in one corner, talking about something or other; Suzy, Sera, and Kirsten on the floor sleeping, angelic expressions on their tiny faces; Vanessa and Dallas, (who had decided to stay the night) by the monitor where I'd gotten most of my missions from Major Monogram before the takeover, talking in low voices and obviously trying not to be overheard; Isabella, Addison, and Gretchen catching up by the coffee machine we had in the small makeshift kitchen – we had enough supplies to hole up down here for months on end. Beovulph was shadowing the girls without intruding on their privacy. Dystopian tilted his head towards the elevator that led up to the tree door.

"I'll cover for you." He said. "Go. You're the only one Phineas will talk to these days." I nodded and ran over to it, shimmying up the tube because the elevator was no longer working. Phineas had taken it out when we had been forced into hiding so it would be harder for spies to get in. The problem was, it was also hard for non-spies to get in and out.

Once I made it to the top, I peered out the slot in the door until I was positive there was no one watching me. After that, I pushed the door up and slid out, closing it softly behind me before hurrying towards the darkened house that used to be the Flynn-Fletcher family residence. Once I stepped through the door, my old instincts kicked in, and I felt an overwhelming urge to take my hat off and act like a mindless animal. Shaking it off as best I could, I looked around, trying to ignore the broken furniture and torn curtains so I could focus on finding Phineas. I knew he sometimes came here to think, even though it probably made him even more depressed and angry than it made me. I walked towards the stairs, making my way up them and jumping the gaps where some had collapsed or had been torn out. I saw a line that had been drawn through the dust, as if someone had ran their fingers along it. I was going in the right direction.

Once I was at the top of the stairs, I padded over to the room that had taken the most damage in the house – Phineas and Ferb's old bedroom. I stepped onto the door that had been kicked down with a giant hole burned through the middle, and looked around cautiously. The computer was destroyed, the disks 'missing'. As if we all didn't know who had taken them. The walls had long burn marks in them, as well as rips where knives had gone through when Karo and her team had ransacked the place. The bookshelf was overturned with the back kicked in and the books scattered all over the floor with some pages ripped out or cut up for no reason other than to destroy them. The window was shattered from the outside, glass still all over the floor, some still stained with blood. The life raft Phineas used to use as a bed was deflated and ripped open, the scrapbook he had hidden inside of it so many years ago it seemed, gone. The pillow was speared to the wall with the stuffing ripped out and a triangle drawn crudely on it. Ferb's bed was pushed up against the wall, the springs and legs snapped off and thrown around randomly, the mattress sliced into several shapes that didn't even make sense. His cushion-pillow-thing was gone, but not because they'd taken it when they raided the house, because he had brought it with him when he left for England.

Phineas was sitting on the windowsill, looking out at the tree. It's mangled and charred limbs made it seem like something that Frankenstein planted in his backyard instead of the site of so many memories for all of us. I padded over to him quietly, careful not to cut myself on any of the glass bits. I looked at the object clutched in his hands. It was a cracked picture frame that had somehow survived the ransacking. In it was a portrait of Phineas, Ferb, Candace, and Isabella. It had been Ferb's birthday and they were all laughing their heads off after they'd gotten soaking wet in the water fight. It had been candid, courtesy of Irving, but the fanboy had let Phineas keep one of the copies.

After standing by his side quietly for a couple minutes, I took a deep breath and held out a hand, chattering through my teeth. Phineas looked down as if noticing me for the first time.

"Hi Perry." He said quietly. I was getting impatient. After slamming my tail against the ground, I held up both arms and chattered louder. A tiny hint of a smile appeared on his lips for less than a second, then he picked me up and touched my forehead, frowning in concentration. A shock ran through my body, and I heard a voice in my head.

_Just relax, Perry._ Phineas thought to me. I fought back a hiss, letting my body go limp and my mind go blank. This was the hardest part – for both of us. For me to sit back and let someone inside my head, and for Phineas because doing anything even remotely like his father made him almost physically sick.

I felt him inside of my, his mind snaking through his fingers, through my forehead and into my mind. I shuddered involuntarily. Was it my imagination, or was his presence getting colder every time we did this? But it was like cold fire in my brain – a burning sensation that was almost painful, that would be painful if I let it stay just another moment, just another minute, just another second. But I had to. I forced myself not to fight him, forced myself to stay calm, forced myself not to thrash about or push him away. And then it was complete.

My body went limp and my vision turned from the outside world to the darkness of the inside of my brain. Slowly, things came into focus. It was a lot like my lair, but there was no floor and no ceiling and no walls. Just a screen and my weapons and armor and hovercar floating in midair. There were other things too, small bubbles or snapshots or clips of memory that randomly passed by as I watched them. Phineas was sitting in an overstuffed armchair that looked like the one that used to be in the Flynn-Fletcher living room. I had created it a while back, after the first time it had become clear to both of us that this wasn't just something we were going to do every so often.

_Isabella's back._ I thought to him, wanting to make conversation. Phineas hesitated.

_Yes. She is. _He thought back quietly. I glanced at the screen, wondering if he was planning to go through my memories like last time. _No, not this time._ He replied to my unformed question. I felt stupid. Of course he could read my thoughts. Why did I keep forgetting that? _You're not stupid, Perry. This is weird for me too._ He scoffed, looking down. _Beovulph would have a field day if he knew I'd inherited this much of my father's powers._ I frowned.

_You can't let him get to you, Phin._ I reminded him. _He just wants what's best for the team. And he's worried about you. You're…_ I didn't finish my sentence, wanting to slap myself for even beginning to think it.

_Different._ Phineas completed. Damn. The boy was good. Phineas smiled for the first time in forever. _Yes, yes I am._ He was serious again. _We need to get back to work, Perry._ I nodded. Phineas and I had been working on figuring out exactly why these powers had emerged so much later than his others, and why he had linked with Liz…and why he couldn't _un_link with Liz.

_All right. Where do you want to start?_ I asked.

_Let's try and link as much as possible. Maybe the thing with Liz showed up because we thought a lot of the same things._ He suggested.

_Great idea. _I paused. _Um, and how are we going to do that again?_ Phineas frowned.

_Maybe we could do some spy stuff – sneak away and infiltrate Doofinshmirtz Evil Inc; like you used to?_ I smirked.

_Should we take it at 'Hey? Where's Perry?'_ I teased.

_Shut up._ Phineas snapped, but he was grinning again. And that was all that mattered to me.

The next thing I knew we were outside on the street between the ransacked Flynn-Fletcher house and the house where Isabella and her family used to live. We reached for the hoverboard hidden in the bushes and unfolded it, leaping on and gliding away across the dark sky. We had to hug the rooftops the further we got into the city – soldiers of the World Division patrolled the streets, and search lights scanned the sky for any unidentified aircraft. Some of the things they had were based on inventions Phineas and Ferb had built a while ago. It made both of us sick, but we couldn't do anything about it. Not tonight.

Doofinshmirtz Evil Inc. was one of the only places in Danville that hadn't changed dramatically over the three years the World Division had been in control. Three years. The first two years they had tried to accomplish their invasion, we were able to keep them down. That was when Phineas had formed Destiny's Children out of the escapees from the former band of child soldiers loyal to Camille, formerly one of the members of the High Command, and his old friends and teammates. But Camille was dead, and in the confusion after her death, Phineas had managed to break his father's hold on the children. Unfortunately others, such as Mercy Tear, Flare, Thaddeus, Thor (those two were probably evil even before they were mind controlled), Baljeat Rai, one of the kids from Maple Drive, and Phineas' twin sister Aria were controlled by a higher source – the leader of the World Division. A being called the Master. According to what Phineas had picked up from Carter's mind, nobody had ever – _ever_ – seen him. Not even the High Command. As far as he knew, only one person had ever been sent directly to him to relay orders to her team – Aria Flynn Henele.

_Kind of depressing thoughts, Perry._ Phineas commented.

_Sorry, Phin._ I apologized. _Being in this city takes me back every time._

_I know. It's so different…but there's so much still the same. Like over there's the junk yard me and Ferb used to sneak into to get parts for our projects. And there's where Candace's favorite hair salon used to be. That's where the park was, before Karo decided to spill fifteen thousand gallons of tar on it, just to make people upset. We had a lot of fun there…_

Even though the things he was saying were nice memories of the past, even I could see past the masked tone in his voice. And it was even easier when we were linked to feel the stabbing pain he felt whenever he thought of his step-brother in England or his captured sister. I was never so happy to see the building of my former nemesis rising up five feet from where we were.

Folding up the hoverboard, Phineas and I used sticky pads to make our way up the wall towards an open window. It was very clear – the best glass in Danville. Simultaneously, the urge to smash it and every other window in the building rose up in both me and Phineas. Doofinshmirtz had sided with the World Division when they'd made their final move. As hard as it was to believe, it was his invention that had turned the tables. They'd welcomed him with open arms.

_Doesn't look like anyone's home._ I commented as we surveyed the empty room.

_We can never be too careful. _Phineas reminded me. I had to agree with him – after all, he'd been caught far less times by Doofinshmirtz than I had. _We can't make any noise…what was it that you did when you got here?_ Phineas opened the window and we dropped almost silently to the floor. Immediately, alarms blared and ten soldiers came in through the door, surrounding us before we had time to blink.

_Um…I would usually get caught._ I chattered nervously as laser lights panned my chest.

_That would have been helpful information to know._ Phineas growled._ I'm starting to really hate my ideas._

_Well, try to think of one that will get us out of this!_ I snapped, my nerves making my tone harsher than it needed to be. Phineas was quiet for a second as the head soldier demanded something in a thick Drusselstinian accent. Finally, as the guns cocked all around us, he groaned in defeat.

_I really, _really_ hate my ideas!_ He yelled.

And then he was gone.

I fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut after Phineas' unexpected departure. At first I panicked, thinking he had deserted me and gone back to his own body. But then I heard the cries of terror and shock from above me. I managed to roll over, my body still adjusting. The lead soldier – the one who had threatened us – was shooting at his teammates. I smirked weakly. Phineas had always had a gift for irony. As the soldiers ran screaming from the room, Phineas in the Drussilstinian soldier's body chased them and slammed the door, shooting the handle with the laser setting so it would be too hot for anyone to open it – except Flare or Mercy, who were probably on their way over here right now. Not to mention the fire child Amber, who had helped us in the bowels of the city all those years ago or Phineas himself – but he probably wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. His body, anyway.

The soldier slammed his gun down on his own head, falling unconscious immediately. A ghostly Phineas floated out of him, looking absolutely exhausted. He wrapped his faded arms around his intangible torso and floated over to me. With one look, I could see that it was complete torture for him to keep his mind that way without any host body. I stood up, my control over myself restored to almost the level it had been before.

_It didn't work, Perry._ Ghost Phineas said softly. I chattered sympathetically, holding my arms out as the alarms continued to make my fur stand on end. They were going to burst back in at any moment. Ghost Phineas started to reach for me, but his face twisted in pain. _I don't want this! I never wanted this! _He shouted. _I am not YOU!_ Concerned, I slapped my tail against the ground.

**Phineas, what's wrong?** I chattered. Phineas didn't respond, just clapped his intangible hands over his ghost ears and moaned.

_No! _He cried. _No!_ and then, right before my eyes, Phineas Flynn disappeared.

**Yeah, I was going to end this differently, but whatever. It works. And now I have one more chapter in this book to write. Which is a good thing, I'm almost positive. Also, I planned out the whole book today, more or less. I'll still probably add things here and there, but it's gonna be awesome. So yeah. I have to do a little Phinbella bit in the next chapter (it'll be a really short chapter), and THEN I'll have the Ferb chapter. No worries, it will happen, I swear. Also – I ACTUALLY EDITED THIS CHAPTER! Are you proud of me? REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Okay here's the Phinbella chapter. It's gonna be short, because Phinbella is NOT one of the pairings I'm going for in this book. It'll make sense later, just go with it. Some of you MAY know what I'm talking about. Hey, feel free to review and guess which pairings I WILL use. LOLZ just for my amusement. Go as weird as you want, the funnest for me will get included in my A/N intro for the next chapter (that I write after I read them. I'm a writing machine, kind of like a computer. I'm not saying it's going to be in the Ferb chapter). Enjoy!**

Perry pov

By the time I got back to the lair I was out of breath. I almost didn't have the energy to open the tree door and shimmy down. About halfway to the bottom, I slipped and fell the rest of the way, hitting my back on the ground.

"Shhh, Perry. You'll wake up…everyone. Wow. How long were we out?" Phineas muttered under his breath.

I ran at him, leaping into him and knocking him down. From my stance on his chest, I fired off a series of questions in Platypus. He got the gist of it, and put a hand over my bill.

"I'm serious about you waking everyone up, Perry." He whispered, glancing around. I looked up, seeing that all the others were, indeed, spread out on blankets or mattresses or the cold hard floor, depending on what we had when they showed up, and their status – meaning the little girls got the mattress. Phineas held me in his arms and stood up, walking over to the cleared-off counter that he slept on. Phineas didn't use any blankets or pillows. He had told us that he was the leader, and he needed to make sure we were all comfortable first. He sat down again, releasing my bill and turning me to face him. "I'm sorry I scared you." He said. "I just…had a vision. About my dad." He shuddered, then smirked weakly at me. "Horrible timing, I know."

_**Ya think?**_ I chattered. Phineas smirked, understanding from my expression what I was talking about. _**If you keep having visions at inopportune times, I'm going to have to do something about it.**_ Smiling now, Phineas patted my head, lying on his back.

"Go to sleep, Perry." He whispered.

_**You think just because I don't speak humanese I'm going to do whatever you tell me?**_ I retorted. Phineas laid me down in the platypus bed he had rescued from the house.

"Even not-so-secret agents need sleep, Perry the Platypus." He told me.

_**I'm not going to sleep before you, you twit. I know there's something you're not telling me…hey! What are you doing? Phineas! Stop that! **_I snapped, but it didn't stop the boy from easing his way into my mind and putting me to sleep. _**You…suck…**_ I hissed before I fell completely unconscious.

Phineas pov

I stroked Perry a little more before getting up and making my way slowly and quietly over to where Isabella was sleeping. Her black hair was splayed out on the pillow Beovulph had acquired for her. She was covered with a thin wool blanket and was sleeping on the floor, but she looked comfortable and happy. It was a lot more than I could say for myself when I first got here.

Leaning over, I lifted a few strands of hair out of her face, letting my fingers rest on her smooth cheek. She sighed softly, moving closer to me. Something jumped in my heart, like it had when she'd first showed up. Then, it had been a sort of territorial rage towards the guys who were trying to kill her, even though I hadn't known at first why she looked so familiar. The second time it had been a kind of fear and betrayal. I wanted her to be safe, why couldn't she see that?

This time was different. It was…soft. Gentle and sweet, but at the same time it made me want to cry. Hesitating, I kneeled beside her, watching her breathing easily as she slept. There was a reason why I hadn't wanted her to get involved in this. There had always been. But…she always surprised me. She never did what I expected, and she always did what she thought was right.

I leaned closer, stopping every few seconds when I lost my nerve. I didn't know exactly what I was trying to do. This feeling was foreign to me. Even more so than all the other feelings I had lost over the five years. Finally, my face was only six inches from hers. _What am I doing?_ I closed my eyes and gave myself over to what I was feeling.

My lips brushed her soft skin, resting there for a moment.

My eyes snapped open and I shot up off the ground, hovering ten feet in the air. Instantly, all the Shadows in the room jerked and moaned in their sleep. Lowering myself quickly to the ground, I made my way to the place where I slept. I couldn't risk them sensing me again, it would wake them all up. Wake Isabella up.

_My gosh, what did I do?_

I hadn't kissed anyone before. Nobody except Liz. But Liz was…different. Being with her had been easy, natural. Like eating or walking. Something that just happened. Isabella wasn't like that. Every time I'd been around her when we were kids and we did something even remotely out of the friend zone, I wouldn't know what to do or say. I knew she had a crush on me, and I returned her feelings in a way. But I didn't know what she wanted from me. It hadn't been like with Liz, when I could read her mind and I _knew_ what she wanted. Isabella made it obvious that she wanted something. But I never knew exactly what that something was.

And now…now I couldn't give her what she wanted, if she even still wanted it. I couldn't put her in danger like that. I didn't know what just happened, but it couldn't turn into anything. It couldn't. I couldn't lose someone like that again. I couldn't lose Isabella like I lost so many others. Ferb, Aria, my mom, my sister, both my dad's…even Liz. She was still here, but I'd lost her so many times it was getting hard to count. I guess in a way I'd lost Isabella too.

"She's back." I whispered to myself. "She's back, she's back, she's back." But whatever it was I had felt when I kissed her, it was gone now. Just like all my feelings had eventually abandoned me. Maybe they went to England to live with Ferb. Wherever they went, they were gone. All I felt now was responsibility, pain, anger and fear. But not fear for myself.

I didn't deserve that.

**Okay so Phinbella angst, AND Phineas angst. I feel skilled, I LOVE angst. A little more on Phineas' emo state for you guys, and I did edit this, cause things tend to turn out better when I do that. (Who knew? :D) Just something for you guys to look forward to – I'm planning on revising the first three books so they flow better and fit with each other more than they do now. I've gotten a lot better at writing since I started Discovery a couple years ago or whatever, and I owe a lot of it to you guys, who loved this series and encouraged me to finish it. Thanks especially to Phoenixwormwood, The High Lord of Terra, Fanboy's Fangirl, vcawarrior, and Zaxsauce who have graciously volunteered their creative genius to me for whenever I need help, I love you guys! (If I got your penname wrong, I apologize. And if you didn't volunteer and you're up there – YOU DID NOW! Jk. Also, if you're not up there, I WILL include you in the next A/N, promise.) Seriously, you guys. Go check out these guys. They are too amazing for words. Ok, now that we're done with that stuff, I'm gonna let my main characters for this book say a couple things to you amazing people.**

**Phineas: I am so emo in this book – you suck ktag. Oh, are we addressing the readers now?**

**Ferb: Yes, yes we are.**

**Phineas: Hey! That's MY line!**

**Ferb: Yes, yes it is.**

**Phineas: Not cool man.**

**Isabella: Would you guys shut up and say something productive? These people are not here to listen to you argue.**

**Phineas: I prefer the term 'debating'.**

**Beovulph: You debate with people a lot in this book, don't you?**

**Phineas: By 'people' do you mean you, Ferb, and Isabella?**

**Beovulph: Pretty much.**

**Phineas: Then yeah.**

**Liz: You forgot about me, Beovulph!**

**Beovulph: Who are you again?**

**Liz: I'm Liz Jackson, Phineas' ex-girlfriend.**

**Isabella: And step-sister.**

**Liz: AHHH! DON'T SAY THAT!**

**Perry: Grrrr.**

**Liz: Is the platypus laughing at us?**

**Sera: Yeah, pretty much.**

**Phineas: Hey, kid.**

**Sera: Hey big brother! 3**

**Liz: How come she's never like that around me?**

**Phineas: Cause you pretty much deny being related to her when you say we're not –**

**Liz: Say it, I kill you.**

**Phineas: Step siblings.**

**Liz: That's it, you're going DOWN Ember-boy! *tackles Phineas***

**Isabella: Wow.**

**Ferb: How they managed to date without killing each other, I'll never know.**

**Beovulph: Speaking of dating, how's it going with you-know-who?**

**Ferb: Shhh! They don't know about that yet!**

**Dallas: Hey! You guys are having a chat and didn't invite us?**

**Dystopian: Not cool.**

**Aria: We deserve to be here as much as any of you!**

**Mystery Guy: Amazingly, I got put into this conversation.**

**Dallas: Hey, get out of here. You're not in this story yet.**

**Mystery Guy: You're not a main character yet.**

**Amber: I want hot chocolate.**

**Ferb: I can arrange that.**

***Phineas and Liz stop fighting***

**Both: Did someone say hot chocolate?**

**Sera: Weirdo big sister and brother. 3 You're so immature sometimes.**

**Isabella: Is it weird to any of you that this is getting longer than the actual chapter?**

**Beovulph: I'm ending this before it gets completely out of hand.**

**Kirsten: Hey! You can't do that!**

**Beovulph: Why not?**

**Kirsten: Because it's not in the script!**

**Dallas: What script?**

**Kirsten: This script. *takes out script***

**Mystery Guy: *reading* The Master shows up and all the characters run away screaming. End weird extra. What the heck…?**

**Master: Hello, children.**

**Phineas: OMZ THE MASTER!**

**Dallas: LETS ALL RUN AWAY SCREAMING!**

**All: AHHHHHHH!**

**Master: Cut and print.**

**REVIEW!**

**JUST**

**HIT**

**THIS**

**BUTTON**

**I**

**I**

**I**

**I**

**V**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Hope you like this chapter! Especially vcawarrior and Dallas XD who wanted me to write this before Friday and gave me the excuse to write it that I needed also, MAYDAY PARADE IS AMAZING! I'm listening to it right now so this might be a little depressing.**

Ferb pov

"Twenty seconds."

I frowned, my fingers flying across the keyboard. I could do this. I had to do this.

"Fifteen seconds."

I bit my bottom lip until I tasted blood, the blurring numbers reflecting in my eyes and making me sick. It was a mind game, and I knew it. I'd seen it too many times before. I instantly put up the mind block using my telepathy. It was infinitely easier to type once the numbers didn't get to my head as much as they had before. I was suddenly past the numbers, and I could almost see the end of the tunnel ahead of me – metaphorically, of course. It was a computer screen, not real life. And at the same time, it felt like my whole life was hanging inside this computer screen.

"Ten seconds, Ferb."

My mind kicked into overdrive, scrambling for answers, for passwords, keywords, random symbols. I had to do this. This was it, I could taste it. This time, this time I would do it.

"Five seconds. Get out of there, Ferb!"

"Just a little longer!" I pleaded, my fingers shaking with anxiety. No, no, no. I was so close. So close!

"Three seconds!"

"Wait!" I begged.

"Two!"

"Ferb!"

"Ferb, stop!"

"Get out of there!"

One more code. One more code. I began to type it in, triumph rising in my chest.

The computer screen went blank.

"No!" I yelled. I looked up to see a dark-haired boy twirling a cord in his fingers. He was almost as tall as my six foot four, with sun-kissed skin and fine-toned muscles. He had mysterious, dark brown eyes that held you mesmerized in his gaze, and a small scar above his left eye. He wore a white t-shirt and faded jeans. All in all, he didn't look like the leader of the youngest MI6 team in London.

"What have I told you about trying to hack past the MI6 barrier, Ferb?" He asked, sighing as if he was disappointed and talking to a five year old.

"Not to." I replied in a clipped, I-don't-care tone.

"Yeah, you tell him, Ferbo." Amber Carlson, my red-headed 'guardian' said from her seat on one of the bean bag chairs in our London apartment. She was the only one of us who wasn't in MI6, not that we were going to tell her to leave. She was the only one who stood up to David besides me-in-a-bad-mood. David glared at her.

"I'd appreciate you staying out of this, Amber." He said coldly. Amber hmm'd as if she was thinking about it.

"Nope." She burned the newspaper in her hand to a crisp, leaving only a wisp of smoke. Dropping the ashes on the ground, she stood slowly. She only came up to David's shoulder, but he still took a step back. Not that I blamed him. "Look, buddy, Ferb's only trying to communicate with his little brother. Why are you so against that?"

"I'm not against Ferb trying to communicate with his little brother. I'm against Ferb trying to communicate with Phineas Flynn." David told her. Amber laughed.

"Why? You scared of a seventeen-year-old Shadow?" She taunted. "You should be. He's not going to be very happy when he hears you've been blocking Ferb's coms." I grinned at the thought of Phineas doing anything violent. Then I remembered how he got when he was fighting his father's soldiers and the grin immediately disappeared. I didn't believe he would actually hurt David, I just wasn't keen on the fact that Carter could be doing any sort of horrible things towards my step-brother and I wouldn't even know. Amber glanced at me, reading my expression like I was an open book instead of an emotionless zombie. _He can take care of himself, you know._ Her thoughts reminded me.

_I know. I just wish he didn't have to._ I replied. _I promised him I'd always be there for him._

_And he promised he wasn't keeping any secrets from you when he was seven. When he turned ten – 'oh, forgot to tell you Ferb, I'm a super-powered mutant'._ Amber had a good point. David waved his hands in front of my face.

"Are you even listening to me?" He asked. I gave him my best blank stare, blinking once for effect. Amber giggled, helping out with my charade. She and Beka were the only ones in the room that I communicated with through telepathy. Shadow abilities were generally frowned upon by most of the superior MI6 agents in our area. Even Mum and Elina didn't use their powers when those agents were around.

"That would be a 'no'." Beka translated. My twin sister, me, David, and Sammy Kim (Elina's younger sister) made up the team. We were one of the youngest MI6 had ever seen, like I said before the youngest in London, and in the top five most efficient. That was mostly because we smoothed over the details in our reports. It wasn't technically lying, at least that was what we told ourselves. Which was one of the things that made us fit in so well.

The one thing I couldn't get used to about MI6 was their rule against communication with what they called your 'past life', or anyone you were close to before you joined the agency. Which included Phineas. And unfortunately for me, the one rule David stuck to had to be that one. I frowned as he and Beka began to argue. Amber caught my eye and tilted her head, gesturing outside the room. Without hesitation, I silently got up and followed her out. Sammy jumped into the argument to give us more cover as we slipped out the door.

Amber led me down the hall and out the door of the apartment building into the busy midday London street. I looked around, breathing in the slightly-tinted air and taking in the clouds over my head. It was going to rain today. I couldn't tell you how I knew that, I just knew. That was happening a lot these days. Mostly with the weather and animals. I wondered absently if my telepathy was evolving into some kind of sixth sense. When I looked back, I had almost lost the red-head in the crowd.

"Keep up, Ferb. You have longer legs." Amber snapped gently when I caught up with her. I stuck my hands in my jeans pockets, glancing around again.

"You're my guardian, you should be more careful about losing me." I teased in a low voice. A cloud passed over Amber's face and she looked around as if seeing the crowd for the first time.

"That's right, I'm your guardian." She said. "And as such, it's my job to make sure nothing and no one hurts you. That includes David." She looked up at my confused expression. I had never understood what she meant by 'guardian'. She hadn't told me much, just that it had something to do with the others who showed up randomly five years ago in Danville when we were searching for the dangerous machine underneath the city. She also said that not all of them were guardians.

"David isn't hurting me." I told her. "I can take care of myself around him."

"It's not the physical threat I'm worried about with him." She said. I noticed the hesitation before she specified 'with him'.

"Amber, what's going on?" I asked. She shook her head, walking faster. My long legs kept up with her easily. I turned her to face me. "Amber, what…" Some pedestrian slammed into her back and she fell forward. I instinctively angled my body and caught her against my chest as if in a close embrace. The sudden closeness of her body against mine caught me off guard. She moved slightly to look up at me, a question in her large eyes. I had never noticed how they sparkled in some kinds of light.

"Ferb…?" She whispered. I let go of her, blushing profusely. I shoved my hands deep in my pockets and turned away.

"Um, I, um…" I stammered. She touched my arm, sending shivers up it.

"Thanks." She said, kissing me on the cheek. This froze me for a moment until she tugged gently on my jacket. "Come on, let's get something to eat so we can avoid David longer." I only nodded, my mind running a million miles an hour. I wasn't used to that. What had just happened? What had just happened? Did I like it? Could I give her what she wanted? What _did_ she want? What did that mean to her? And why was I just noticing these feelings now?

_Oh Phineas. _I sighed, yearning for the one person who could help me sort out my confused thoughts. _I wish you were here. You'd know what to do._

**So yay! Romance in London! Lolz. And it wasn't depressing! :D And thank you vcawarrior for the motivation to finish this. Sorry it wasn't up sooner, but I had almost no computer time this week where I was working on a story and I apologize for that. So yeah, here's this. Now you guys know where Ferb is, and why he hasn't communicated with Phineas for so long. More on that later. Next chapter, we go inside the World Division to see what Aria is doing :D**

**Phineas: Review!**

**Me: Hey! My line!**

**Phineas: Suck it up, you always get to say it.**

**Me: Okay, true. Review!**

**Phineas: Not fair, I already said it!**

**Me: XP**

**Phineas: XP**

**Aria: You guys are both really immature. *takes out a gun* what you gotta do is give them a little **_**incentive.**_

**Dallas: Holy crap! You, get out of here. We do not shoot the audience. We like the audience.**

**Aria: Make me.**

**Dallas: *personifies the gun and starts beating Aria over the head with it.***

**Aria: *Teleports behind him and tackles him to the ground***

**Phineas: Uh-oh. We're out of popcorn. End the chapter, ktag, we can't have a good fight without popcorn! :'(**

**Me: NO POPCORN? THAT'S A TRAVESTY!**

**Phineas: Tragedy.**

**Me: TRAGEDY! END CHAPTER!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hehehe I've been looking forward to writing this chapter. I'm listening to Sing by My Chemical Romance. I think it's a PF song. So yeah, you guys are probably gonna get a little bit of my playlist in these intros, cause I like to listen to music while I write. Yeah. Anyway, ENJOY!**

Dark walls. Dark floor. Dark hallway. There was no light in this part of the building. Aria Henele's mind processed this while she walked, her boot heels clicking against the floor. It processed it, but her consciousness had no interest in any further thought on that line. Scratch that – her consciousness had no interest in any further _thought,_ period. She was completely, totally, irrevocably brainwashed. Basically, she was a cold, hard, 17-year-old killer robot. A lot like her brother, without the guilt and emotional pain. Not that she knew about any of that. And if she did, she wouldn't have cared. She would have used it to her advantage. Aria Henele didn't exist anymore. She was just a puppet of the Master – her brain had been washed so many times she barely had any memories left.

Aria turned sharply, facing a nondescript door in the forsaken corridor. There was no light from the other side. A mirror was on this side of the door, and Aria checked herself over, pushing a lock of short, light brown hair out of her face. Her catlike green eyes stared emotionlessly back at her. She straightened the black suit jacket and brushed invisible lint off her creased black pants. It was routine that she make herself presentable when she entered the Master's chambers, even if she never saw him herself.

The door opened silently as if its hinges had been oiled fifty times over. It didn't even brush the floor as it swung open by the will of an invisible hand. Unfazed, Aria stepped through the door into the dark room. Her left hand hung down, finger tips searching for the low shelf in the dark. Finding it, Aria sat down slowly, hands folded in her lap like a schoolgirl. She stared unblinking into the blackness as the door swung shut again. Then she felt it.

The tendril of cold, black darkness reaching into her mind. A normal person would have flinched away or screamed. Aria wasn't a normal person. She sat ramrod straight and rock steady on the bench, her only indication being her eyes which shut slowly in acknowledgement that it had started. The tendril felt its way expertly around her mind, pressing her gently into unconsciousness. Aria's body started falling forward, but she was caught by an invisible force which set her, with uncharacteristic tenderness, on the bench as if she had simply fallen asleep.

The tendril retracted, dissipating and returning to its master. As if he had been waiting for this moment, a flurry of movement was heard at the end of the room. A figure in a long, black cloak that covered his features as if the shadows of the night had pulled themselves together to hide him flowed out of the corners of the room as if he wasn't really walking at all.

The Master came to a stop beside the girl on the bench. A pale hand reached out of the confines of the cloak, glowing red symbols covering the exposed wrist and hand like millions of tattoos in all different shapes and sizes dancing across the skin. Like burning embers, the symbols did nothing to illuminate the darkness. They just showed you how deep the darkness really was. The hand brushed Aria's cheek slowly from her temple to her jaw as if he was caressing his child. A shudder ran through the Master at this simile, and he withdrew his hand.

"Having second thoughts, are we?" a voice broke the silence. The Master didn't start, turning around slowly.

"ktag. You promised to stay out of this."

It wasn't an accusation. It was a statement. The Master hadn't really expected the author to keep her promise. Ktag smiled and stepped closer, lighting a ball of golden energy on her hand and let it go, letting it float around the room, illuminating it. The author was dressed in a black cloak, the hood covering the top half of her face. The rest of the cloak made her features just as vague as the Master's own. The Master hissed and tugged his cloak closer over his face, concealing it entirely.

"Turn that off." He hissed. Ktag laughed.

"No. I can't believe you haven't learned that I do whatever I want whenever I want." She said. The Master sighed.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I'm checking on you. You were such a social child, it's not good for you to be alone." She tsked sympathetically.

"Wow time flies when you're getting pushed out the door." The Master made an attempt at carefree sarcasm. Ktag crossed her arms.

"You can fool everyone in Danville, you can fool the world, you can fool yourself, but you can't fool me." She said. "Remember that." The Master didn't respond as both ktag and the light bubble disappeared. He turned back to the unconscious girl on the table and held out his hands. Suddenly, he gasped.

The red symbols were gone.

The Master began to shake uncontrollably, his hands trembling over the brown-haired girl's body. In response, the girl twisted and convulsed. Slowly, the red symbols appeared again. The Master sighed in relief, then proceeded to fill her head with commands for the leaders of his organization. He couldn't let someone like ktag get to him. He was the Master, and no one, _no one_ was powerful enough to stop him.

…

Mercy Tear was the most dangerous 17-year-old girl in the world. And she knew it.

Aria was the Ember, but Mercy had literally no conscience. It was almost as if she fed off other people's pain and emotional agony. So when Aria returned to a room torn apart as if someone had let a tiger on steroids let off steam, she wasn't surprised. She just sighed, looking at the girl on the couch.

Mercy was reading a romance novel, curled up on the unbroken part of the couch, looking more like a bookworm than a skilled assassin with a temper. Her silver hair was long, flowing over her bare shoulders and back like a headdress, reflecting light off it like a mirror. She looked up when Aria came through the door. Aria nodded at the girl like she hadn't ripped up their living quarters and beaten up their roommates for the seventh time in five days.

"Welcome back, chief." Mercy nodded back. "Anything we need to do right away? What's the big chief's take on things?" She didn't really expect a response. Being in the presence of the Master usually wore Aria out so much mentally that she needed to take a nap right away. But this time was different. Turning to her second-in-command, Aria's eyes reflected more than the usual robotic emotionlessness. They reflected a sort of mixture of awe, amazement and…pain.

"More slipped through this time." She said in a shaky tone. Mercy sat up, suddenly interested.

"Yeah? Like what?" She asked eagerly.

"I…" Aria steadied herself on the wall. "I know his name."

**Okay that was shorter than it was supposed to be. But I had to end there. There was no choice. And I was in it :D What do I know about the Master? Everything, duh. I created him. But I gotta list questions, so what do we know that you don't know? What did he mean by he was more powerful than everyone? (Even me? Who does he think he is?) What slipped through? What is his name? And why is it important to Aria? REVIEW!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Okay so here's a test for you guys. Do you remember what you guys just learned about the World Division? Do you remember everything I told you about Phineas and Aria's past? Do you remember everything that's happened to Destiny's Children so far? Actually, that one you can keep for a while. Review your notes. The only other that you need to know is who Phineas' group is and what they do. No worries, this is a notes test. You can look in your books – hey! Look! The book! And all the answers are in this chapter! Wow! Who knew? **

Liz pov

Phineas was in front, leading our group through the streets of downtown Danville. Capes covered our faces so we weren't easily recognizable to the guards passing us. My green high heels clicked against the cracked pavement as I kept my head down, counting the different greys that I saw. One. One. One. One.

"Liz." I looked up to see Phineas' eyes on me. I realized that I'd strayed out into the path of one of the soldiers accidently. I smiled thinly in thanks and walked closer to him. My hand went up absently to touch the tip of his cape when the wind blew it backwards towards me. Phineas hunched over, pulling the hood tighter around his face. He was the most recognizable of all of us. Though I'm sure the guns and amo would tip the guards off if they got close enough to see what was hidden beneath our capes.

We pressed our backs to the wall of Doofinshmirtz Evil Inc. It was the least heavily guarded building controlled by the World Division, so we usually broke in here. Addison had fun with vandalism while Phineas and I downloaded as much information off their system as possible. There was constantly more information being uploaded, so we had to do this fairly often.

Phineas clenched his right hand into a fist, and the back door opened a few feet. It was reinforced steel, but I was sure there was still surveillance on the other side. That was my job. I brushed past my triangle-headed companion and peered into the corridor, my eyes glowing green like night vision goggles. I could make out two cameras in the hallway before my vision faded into shadows further in.

"Josh, can you get me the security status of this place?" I mouthed, the vibrations of my voice box transmitting the message to Josh back at the base. Josh was a camera freak. He had wired all of the members of Destiny's Children with eye cams that transmitted real-time info back to him, as well as the throat com devices we all wore. There were also decoy tracking devices embedded in all of our clothing, as well as an undetectable tracking device under the skin right above our shoulder blades. He wired us so much, even Phineas thought it was paranoid.

"Ten four good buddy." Josh convulsed into a fit of giggles. I glowered. Josh was also a total dork.

"Stop playing around Josh, this is serious." Phineas cut in.

"Listen to the chief, Ice Man." Addison commented dryly, using Josh's old nickname.

"Okay you've got two cameras watching the door and a whole bunch of laser alarms you can trip if you just walk right in. Wow it's like there's not even a square of ground that's safe." He whistled in grudging respect. "Oh, and if you step on one of the lasers, it will not only summon the World Division who will dissect you, suck out your soul and use you as a robot to terrorize your former loved ones and achieve their ultimate goal, but it will also cut off your foot."

"Good to know." I replied sarcastically. "Anything else?"

"Alarms are wired through the light switch. If you turn any on, they will go off and summon the World Division who will…"

"Yeah, yeah, we got that part." I snapped, pressing my palm against the wall. I felt the vibrations of the energy and focused on it, merging with it and rerouting it to turn off the laser alarms. For the cameras, I had something special. I unzipped the pouch at my waist, pulling out a small device the size of my thumbnail, and attaching it to the wall exactly in between the two cameras. "Activate Loop5." I mouthed. The Loop devices had actually been created by me. Their purpose was to infect the cameras closest to them with a sort of virus, which ended up infecting the entire system. The virus caused them to playback the last three minutes like broken records. Very useful. Keystrokes sounded in my earpiece.

"Activated." Josh replied when the keystrokes stopped. "You have around three minutes before Karo figures it out. Go."

_We need to get better equipment._ Phineas commented as the three of us took off down the hallway. _Karo's not getting any weaker._ I snorted.

_If anything she's getting stronger. Did you know she could puke nanobug armies? _I asked. Phineas smirked.

_I wouldn't believe it if I didn't have the scars to prove it._ He paused for a moment. _Sorry about…you know. What I said about Ellie._ I softened, moving closer to him as we reached the closet we used for hacking their system.

_Don't you start apologizing now. You'll ruin our reputation._ I chided. Phineas' hand brushed mine as Addison opened the door.

_Thanks sis._ He teased. I winced, clapping my hands over my ears.

_I am so not related to you._

_Your mom and my dad._

_EW! When did this happen?_

_You are very good at forgetting things you don't want to remember._

_You have no idea._

"All right, let's do this. Tick tock." Addison shut the door behind us. Phineas took out his laptop, ripping off the barely-concealed broken tile that had covered a whole bunch of cables. Phineas grabbed a couple and somehow hooked up his laptop to them before furiously typing on the keyboard.

"Aren't you going to destroy something?" I asked her. She shook her head, leaning back against the door with a desert eagle cradled lovingly in her hands. Her brown hair was cut short, only a little past the tops of her ears, unlike mine. When I didn't have my hair tied up in a messy ponytail/bun/crazy mess, it was down to the middle of my back.

"No time." She replied. "I couldn't finish anything spectacular in under three minutes."

"We're in." Phineas interrupted, handing me the computer. Phineas was the most talented hacker in the tri-state area, a position he had held since he was old enough to type on a keyboard.

"Come to Mama." I grinned wolfishly, plugging in my flash drive and copying and pasting files faster than they could download. My fingers flew over the keyboard, harvesting information like I had been doing it my whole life. I could feel Phineas in my head, looking out through my eyes and commenting on some of the things I chose or didn't. Mostly he just watched me. I think he liked to observe how well I did the job he'd assigned me to do. I also liked to think he liked being in my head. But… I pushed those thoughts away. I needed to focus.

"One minute left. Let's go." Addison warned. Something caught my eye as I was about to cut the connection.

"Phineas, look at this." I gasped. "It's a file on Carter's child soldiers." We were both thinking the same thing, our connection getting stronger.

"Aria." He whispered, and I heard the yearning in his thoughts for the sister he'd lost. Almost as strong as my yearning for Ellie. Just thinking about both of them brought tears to my eyes.

"Guys, we have to go." Addison pressured.

"One more, just this one more." I told her. It was fifty percent loaded.

"Liz, Phineas…" Addison's voice had an undercurrent of fear.

Seventy percent loaded.

Eighty.

Ninety-nine.

**UNABLE TO DOWNLOAD FILE**

"What?" I gasped.

_No._ A stabbing pain ran through both of us. I winced and Phineas retreated from my head, leaving me to stare at the screen. A hand yanked my flash drive out and cut the connection to the server. Phineas laid a hand on my shoulder. _Thanks for trying. You have no idea how much that means to me._ I was still in shock that Karo had somehow been able to override Phineas' hacking.

_Yeah. No problem._ I murmured. I couldn't identify the reason behind the guilt I was feeling. Like it was my fault we couldn't save Aria, like it was my fault she was still a mindless robot. But that was crazy right? It couldn't be my fault…I hadn't even known about Aria until I met Phineas. Actually, after that, even. So it couldn't possibly be my fault.

"Liz, come on we have to go." Addison snapped. Phineas took the computer from me and shoved it in his backpack. He took out a small handheld blaster. I took out my beloved AK-47, dwarfing my teammates guns in comparison. Addison stared at my skin-tight brown shirt and grey skinny jeans.

"Where the heck did you hide that?" She marveled. I smirked.

"I'll never tell." Phineas playfully hit my arm.

"Let's go hotshot." He teased. "We're over our time limit as it is." I grinned. Hotshot had been my nickname for as long as I can remember. It had to do with my powers and my attitude. It used to be Ellie's thing – Phineas was the only one who used it now. I cocked my gun.

"Let's do this thing." I showed my teeth wolfishly.

We opened the door, preparing to make a break for it. It really wasn't necessary as it turned out. Who should be on the other side of the door but the girl who was responsible for us being late in the first place. What a cliché. You can do better than this, ktag. YES! I BROKE THE FOURTH WALL! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?

We opened the door, preparing to make a break for it. There was no one in sight. Hardly able to believe our luck, we ran towards the door. The gray light outside was beckoning like a search light telling a lost kid which way home was. We ran like there was no tomorrow, aware that we were being taped at the moment. As if the thought occurred to all of us at the same time, we pulled our hoods over our heads without dropping our guns. It looked like we were gonna make it. I let myself believe we were gonna make it. Big mistake.

Something slammed into my back. I fell to the ground, the gun ripped out of my hands from the person who was kneeling on my back. Drat. Some_one_. I shot a blast of electricity through them, but they were no longer there. I was on my feet before I had time to worry about why they had dodged my attack. My hood was pulled off by someone behind me, and when I turned to look, someone kicked me in the back. I flew through the air, hitting the wall with a sickening _crack._

"Owww. Think I broke something." I muttered. Wariness was no longer needed. Josh's anxious voice sounded in my ear.

"Liz? Liz? Are you okay?" I groaned, sitting up. Weirdo chose _now_ of all times to get serious.

As soon as I made a movement, my assailant slammed a fist into my nose. I jerked back, hitting my head against the wall. Blood gushed from my nose, my eyes flying open as I lifted a hand to it unconsciously. As soon as my eyes opened, I wished they'd stayed closed. I was staring into the eyes of a cold-blooded green-eyed brown-haired killer. For those of you who don't know, that would be my step-sister Aria Flynn. Or Henele. What the heck, let's go with Flynn, she's on the side of evil. Oh, I mean Henele, of course.

I shot a fist out towards her, electricity shimmering in a field around it. She wasn't there anymore. Of course not. I jumped up, running towards the door while the path was cleared. I got halfway to the exit before Aria hit me from behind, jerking me back by my hair. She knocked my legs out from underneath me and I hit the floor, seeing stars. I rolled over, moaning. My hand felt for the dagger at my thigh.

As soon as I grabbed the handle, Aria stepped on my wrist, bruising it at the very least. I dropped the dagger, kicking my leg upward, but she was gone again. Of course. I rolled to my knees, looking around warily. I was unwilling to put myself in the position of another surprise attack. I should have known it was inevitable. Aria gripped me from behind, forcing me to drop the dagger for the second time, but she was gone before she gave me another bruise, cut, or nosebleed. I heard someone hit the wall, then a strong pair of arms was around me, pushing me towards the exit.

"This is why we carry small guns." Phineas murmured in my ear. I let out a wheezy laugh, my vision blurring a bit. Several other thuds sounded, and once Phineas let out a pained hiss. Then we were outside and running. I didn't realize my hand was in Phineas' until we reached an abandoned car with blacked-out windows and he gently pried his hand out of mine before pushing me gently into the backseat. He shut the door and left, leaving me to rest in the springy leather that should have been holding some kids arguing about who hit who first while the mother yelled at them that she didn't care who started it, she would finish it and the father drove faster, strangling the steering wheel.

"Are you okay?" Addison asked anxiously from beside me. I looked at her, noticing her for the first time.

"Yeah." I breathed the lie easily, not that Addison couldn't see through it by the bruises and blood on my face and arms. "I'm fine." The dark-haired girl frowned at me.

"You're not fooling anyone." She told me. "You can't try to tough it out all the time. That's how Phineas got to be….well, Phineas. I don't want that to happen to you." I was touched by her concern, but her words turned my mind on an entirely different path than the one she was trying to lead me down.

"Where is Phineas, anyway?" I muttered.

"Oh, he went to make sure no one was following us." She said. "So we're camping out in the car again until nightfall."

"Sounds good." I replied. "Did we remember to bring food this time? Or is Phineas gonna steal some? I didn't eat breakfast."

"you didn't eat breakfast?" Phineas' voice was suddenly in my ear.

"I knew you were listening." I told him triumphantly.

"Liz, you're too self-sacrificing. You need to eat before a raid." He chastened.

"Aw, were you wowied abowt me?" I teased. I could almost see the expression on his face.

"I'll steal something from the old Slushy Dog or something." He muttered.

"Thanks, Phinny!" I grinned.

"Wow." Addison laughed. "You two _are_ just like brother and sister."

"Shuddup!" I shouted, slamming my head back with my eyes closed. I hit the window hard. That was all the convincing my body needed to pass out. "Shoot." I muttered as I slipped into unconsciousness. "I gotta…get better…at…that…"

**And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what you get when you tick off ktag!**

**Phineas: Was all of that really necessary?**

**Me: Yes, yes it…hey! What are you doing here? This is MY authors note!**

**Phineas: I'm your co-host.**

**Me: My huh? I have a co-host?**

**Phineas: Apparently.**

**Me: Huh. Who knew.**

**Phineas: So review!**

**Me: Yeah, what he said! I'm not sure I like this co-hosting thing.**

**Phineas: You need to be more social with your characters.**

**Me: I do…?**

**Phineas: Yes, we feel left out.**

**Me: Oh…well…okay then…**

**Phineas: Sucker.**

**Me: What?**

**Phineas: Nothing.**


	9. Chapter 8

**Today's song is High School Never Ends by Bowling for Soup, the singers of the PF theme song. I listen to it and I'm like 'I really, really, hope the little children watching the show don't look up this song'. But I love it. Anyway, in this chapter I have the appearance of the last outer oc in this series – the last oc in this series actually, not including the Shadow Children. And I've said too much. Enjoy!**

Phineas hid on top of the building, the wind playing with his hood. His face was blank, but under the surface his emotions were raging out of control. Below him was his twin sister commanding a group of brainwashed children. His sister…who he'd thought was dead for so many years. She was his other half, and he'd always felt empty without her in his life. Even though he had Ferb when he was younger, it took all of his strength to wake up with a smile on his face, telling the world, his friends, his family and Ferb the lie that he was happy and everything was all right. And even though he knew that Aria would much rather kill him and spread his blood across the town, he couldn't shake the urge to wrap her in his arms and never let go.

"Find them." Aria commanded in the robotic, emotionless voice that still sounded so much like the voice Phineas had heard as a child. Just enough to break his already-broken heart for the millionth time.

"We've looked everywhere. They got away." Mercy told her. Aria turned to the sadistic teen.

"_Find them._" She commanded. "The Master is urgent for the mission to reach its completion."

"Well it would be nice to know what this 'mission' is." Mercy snapped, her nerves worn down. "We've been brainwashed, enslaved, and locked up like animals while Phineas and his band of rebels have all the fun. I'd like to know when I get to rip his self-righteous heart out of his body and shove it in his stupid Ember face while he dies." Aria looked directly towards the building where her twin was hiding. Phineas ducked down, afraid she had seen him.

"_No_." Aria replied in a voice that was not her own. "_We need Phineas alive._"

…

Danville is the most dangerous place on the planet. But there are some people who know just what to do when confronted with danger – and how to avoid it until they have the power to make the danger wish it had never existed.

The shadowy figure stuck to the darkness of the alley, pausing when he came across the bodies. The blood was stained only in small pools at the direct entrance of the bullets. He knelt down, the hood of his black and gray striped jacket hiding all of his face save when the light glinted off his green eyes making them seem sinister. His mouth twisted into a smirk. At his waist was a black onyx dagger, the blade smooth and thin, but sharp as anything. The most unusual thing about the dagger was the red glowing symbols that seemed to be embedded into the blade without actually having any physical bumps or indents to ensure they were actually there.

The figure stood suddenly, pressing himself to the wall of the alley, his hand going to his dagger. A minute later, a teenage boy appeared at the mouth of the alleyway. He had spiked red hair and was wearing black skinny jeans and a red shirt. His face held an annoyed frown. He glanced at the bodies in the alley and laughed, shaking his head. The shadowy figure lunged, pulling the teen back into the shadows with him, hooking his arm around the teen's chest and pressing the blade of the knife to the red-head's throat.

"What is this? Some kind of joke?" The boy hissed. "You killing your own now?" The red-headed child soldier laughed.

"Damn rebel doesn't even know who his leader is." The teen mocked. The blade inched closer to killing him.

"Why did you kill these soldiers?" The bearer of the blade demanded.

"_We_ didn't." The redhead muttered. "It was probably Phineas Flynn."

"Who?" The blade shifted slightly so the dim light glinted off it.

"The leader of Destiny's Children. Damn, don't you know anything?" The boy shifted uneasily when the dagger moved closer to his neck. "okay, okay, sorry. Don't kill the messenger. Seriously, I'm a brainwashed civilian don't kill me."

"You. Are. Not. Innocent." The blade bearer growled.

"Never said I was. I'm Flare, by the way. Just Flare. Carter found me in an alley turning random things to molten lava. Who are you? One of Phineas' minions?" Flare asked conversationally, his voice a tad higher than usual and his words rushed by the threat of death on his neck.

"I'm no one's minion." The rebel hissed. "But I am not one of _you_."

"Kinda hard to tell the difference these days." Flare muttered. "So if you're not with Phineas and you're not with us, who are you with? Some random group of haters? Maybe that green-haired kid no one's seen for five years?" Flare wracked his brain when there was no reply. "You just a Shadow with an attitude problem? Having a bad day?" The red symbols flashed and Flare frowned. "Those are kinda weird looking. Wait…are they _Time Symbols_?" The blade froze, then disappeared. Flare turned quickly, his palms warming up.

There was no one there.

"Flare! What are you doing? We need to find those rebels or Mercy's gonna lose it!" Baljeat Rai exclaimed from the mouth of the alley. He had changed dramatically over the years. His black hair was spiked and his muscles bulged in his arms and legs. His face was set in a stony expression and his eyes were sharp enough to make anyone look away, self-conscious. Anyone except Mercy. In his hands was an AK-47 modified by Carter himself. Flare shook himself, disregarding the experience as only someone who was used to forgetting things he didn't want to remember could.

"Yeah this alley's clean. Let's look close though, he was definitely here." Flare replied, glancing at the bodies again before heading after the Indian kid.

On top of the building, the shadowy figure in the black-grey jacket watched the child soldiers as they searched in vain for the leader of Destiny's Children. He looked up, his green eyes meeting the dark blue of the most wanted in question a couple building roofs away. Phineas stared at the boy, feeling the familiar thrum in his chest that could only mean the boy was a Shadow. And the fact that he wasn't shooting at him or yelling for backup could only mean he wasn't one of Carter's. Phineas started towards the boy slowly, but a shout from below caused him to drop to the roof and freeze. When he looked up, the boy was gone.

As if he had never been there at all.

**You'll see this shadowy Shadow a couple more times before he becomes an official character, so look for him. After he gets here, things are going to speed up towards a major fight that's going to take a couple chapters and will include the shock of a lifetime – for everyone. Stay tuned cause we got a lot more to do before then :D Also, I am SO SORRY to all of you guys. I could have posted this on Monday but I wanted to wait until I could post two at once and then I felt guilty cause it's taking me forever to write the next chapter so I decided to post this now and the other one later. Again, so SORRY, and thanks for waiting. :D**

**REVIEW!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Okay so I was going to have a flashback in this chapter, but I decided to have some fun instead.**

**Phineas: Meaning, you tried to write it and this came out instead.**

**Me: Telling people I have been mind-controlled by my characters on several occasions is not doing anyone any good, thank you very much.**

**Phineas: You're welcome, Ka Ka Poo Poo.**

**Me: Shuddup. I KEEL YOU! LITERALLY!**

Isabella pov

We hung out in Perry's old lair for the day, waiting for the vandal-raiders to come back. Josh was freaking out the first couple minutes after we lost contact until Dallas hit him over the head with a personified frying pan. With Josh down for the count, we were pretty much out of entertainment. We went back to being bored.

"You seem pretty calm." Beovulph told me. "Considering."

"Hmm?" I looked up from the picture I was drawing, quickly covering it by pressing the paper facedown against the table. "Bored is more like it. When I lived here before, you could barely get a break from all the excitement." Beovulph smiled.

"I meant your friends being out of contact and in danger." He said.

"Oh." I shrugged. "They can take care of themselves. I'm more worried about us. Dying of boredom."

"We train sometimes." Beovulph said. "But that gets predictable. We've been together so long we know each other's moves and impulses."

"You don't know _my _moves and impulses." Dallas pointed out, having drifted over to us. "Or hers."

"Her name is Isabella." Beovulph corrected, obviously not appreciating the interruption.

"She has a mouth." Dallas observed. "If she has a problem with me she can tell me herself. Anyway, like I was saying you haven't trained with either me or _Isabella_ yet."

"I thought he said 'her'." Sera joked under her breath. Kirsten giggled and Suzy rolled her eyes, short blond hair falling over her forehead.

"So what are we waiting for? These two have volunteered to kill each other for our amusement, so why don't we let them?" The blond proposed.

"Well Phineas isn't here for starters." Gretchen frowned. "But I'm bored out of my mind, so he doesn't have to know."

"I never volunteered!" I protested.

"That's okay, Beovulph wants to fight Dallas anyway, right Beovulph?" Kirsten asked sweetly.

"Hello, have you _seen _Beovulph's powers? Are we supposed to say we blew something up ourselves or that a bomb went off?" Vanessa scoffed sarcastically. We had managed to attract almost everyone into our conversation – if it even was a conversation anymore.

"Oh, he won't mind." Sera waved a hand. "I'll just give him my puppy eyes and tell him we were seizing the day, and he'll cave just like always."

"Yeah, let them fight." Josh agreed, shooting a death glare at Dallas as he rubbed his head. He had woken up sometime and slipped over to the side of the group without anyone noticing. I sighed and brushed the large bruise with my fingertips, blue sparks worming their way under his skin, healing him instantly. He touched the spot in wonder, obviously having forgotten my powers. "Um, thanks..." He murmured.

"Should have left it. It distracted people from his ugly face." Dallas frowned. I hid a grin.

"Vanessa has a point." Dystopian said. He and Perry were sitting further away, just barely close enough to be considered part of the crowd. "We don't let people who aren't Destiny's Children members battle here. But…Phineas left me in charge. And as such if we all agree that Dallas is going to become one of us, I decree that we shall see some action."

"Cool." I grinned.

"You decree?" Beovulph mocked.

"Someone had to use it in this story." His friend shrugged.

"Story?" A voice asked threateningly.

"Hey, people use it as a synonym for life all the time." Dystopian defended, glaring up at the sky. "You're the only one breaking the fourth wall here."

"Oh, my bad."

"What the heck was that?" I asked.

"Don't. Just don't." Beovulph told me.

"I love that no one bothered to ask Dallas if he wanted to join." Kirsten pointed out.

"Oh, right." Someone murmured.

All eyes suddenly turned to the 22-year-old (the only one here besides Vanessa who was actually a legal adult) who was leaning against the wall casually as if he wasn't the focus of the conversation. He shifted to see most of us at once, eyes scanning the crowd as if appraising it. After a breathless silence, he looked to Dystopian.

"All right. Where do I sign?" He smirked. A cheer went up.

"Yay!" Sera hugged his legs, causing him to stick his arms out to keep from falling over. Perry saluted, smiling.

"Welcome to the team. Finally, someone I can tease about age." Vanessa smirked. Kirsten shot a lightning bolt into the air in celebration.

"Hello? Not that this isn't fun, but I really want to see someone get beat up." Suzy frowned.

"Big surprise there." Gretchen rolled her eyes.

"What the hell is wrong with you, child?" Vanessa ruffled Suzy's spiked hair fondly. She leaned towards Dallas. "It's not too late to back out, you know. You don't have to be stuck with a bunch of insane kids with death wishes." She stage-whispered.

"Yes it is." Beovulph unsheathed his sword. "I haven't had a new challenge in forever.

"That's because you haven't been here in forever." Sera pointed out, letting go of Dallas to cross her tiny arms in our direction, lower lip sticking out poutishly.

"Have so. I was here last week." He argued playfully. Dallas hugged a laugh, cracking his knuckles loudly.

"Bring it on, knight." He grinned. "I haven't had a new challenge in twice as long – at least not one that's presented a problem."

"Ooooo." Sera, Kirsten and Suzy giggled as we all moved out of the way. Gretchen took my elbow and guided me to a table which she and Vanessa proceeded to overturn so the top was facing Dallas and Beovulph. They ducked down, kneeling behind it while Gretchen motioned for me to do the same.

"Guys and their stupid macho talk." Vanessa scoffed as the two opponents continued to trade comebacks and such. Gretchen grinned at her.

"Don't even try to pretend you don't do the same thing." She teased.

Beovulph and Dallas eyed each other, circling slowly. It was so quiet, we could hear their sneakers sliding almost silently across the smooth metal floor. The tension was electric, and I could feel the anticipation or spectators who had not witnessed an exciting event in a very long time. As I watched, I realized I had never really seen Beovulph use his powers in a fight before. I had just seen him using martial arts and his sword. When I searched my brain I discovered I didn't even know what his power was.

Dallas was the first one to make a move, crouching slightly before springing forward and kicking Beovulph in the chest, knocking him backwards. Reflexively, Beovulph swung his sword in a deadly arc, cutting Dallas in the leg as he jumped flipped backwards. Dallas grunted, landing on his right knee and clapping a hand over his left calf to stop the bleeding. Despite his efforts, red blood still leaked through his fingers. I gasped, my hand going to my mouth, blue sparks turning my arm a shimmering aqua. The absolute worst thing for a Healer to see is someone out of their reach getting hurt.

Beovulph laughed, touching the sword to Dallas' neck. "Guess you were all bark and no bite." He smirked. Dallas smirked back, touching the tip of his finger to the tip of the sword.

"Maybe you jump to conclusions." He retorted.

The sword twisted and churned like a living thing, jerking out of Beovulph's hand and shooting upwards. It began to morph in the air, and for a second I saw glowing red symbols flash across the blade before it turned completely black. Once the transformation was complete, it turned and immediately attacked it's master, driving Beovulph backwards towards the far wall. He blocked with his armor, but when one attack sliced right through it, he ducked behind the broken elevator shaft. My heart was pumping for my friend, I was terrified that the possessed sword would actually hurt him. But when he jumped back out, he was holding something in his hand.

The four small bubbles rested in the air above his palm. When he blew on them, they floated on the air towards the sword. Dallas stared, too confused and curious to tell the sword to attack. And the second they touched the blackened blade, he was out of time to command it.

The explosion rocked the ground beneath our feet, and if it hadn't been for Vanessa pulling me down at the last minute, my head would have been sliced off by the charred hilt of the sword which hurtled like a meteor through the wall behind us.

"What…what just…?" I gasped.

"Beovulph is an Anti-Matter Controller, or an AMC." Vanessa informed me. "Didn't you know that? Those bubbles were anti-matter bubbles specifically designed to ignite the matter in the sword."

"Oh." Was all I could manage.

Dallas and Beovulph didn't stop to stare or take cover like the rest of us did. Beovulph closed his fist, then opened it again, revealing another small bubble. He pinched it between his thumb and pointer finger, waving it tauntingly.

"This one's for you." He said.

"Aw, you shouldn't have." Dallas retorted. Beovulph blew the bubble towards him, but Dallas jumped out of the way just as it contacted the floor where he'd been sitting two seconds before. He was momentarily hidden from view in the smoke that erupted from what used to be a metal floor. From behind the literal smoke screen, seven swords flew at Beovulph. Beovulph grabbed one of the swords and swung it into two of the others, knocking them aside. He held up a hand toward three that came at him from the right, an anti-matter wave blowing them to bits within seconds. The seventh sword hit him in the back, piercing the armor right below the right shoulder blade. He fell to the ground, but managed to roll into a crouch, yanking the sword from his shoulder with a sickening sucking sound. **(A/N: Alliteration! :P)**

Dallas flipped out of the smoke and kicked Beovulph in the head, then wrapped his chain around Beovulph's neck. Beovulph kicked him off and struggled with the chain that seemed to be fighting back. Oh….right… Dallas jumped onto Beovulph's chest and started punching him in the face. Beovulph grabbed Dallas and wrapped the end of the chain around his neck as well. Dallas tried to personify the chain off him, but Beovulph held on tightly.

"I bet this is one of those 'if I go down, you go down with me' things." Vanessa commented.

"Why doesn't Beovulph just use his anti-matter powers?" I asked.

"He can't. He'd blow them both up." Gretchen told me. I turned back to the fight.

"When do these things usually end?" I asked.

"When someone's too close to dead to fight." Vanessa shrugged. "Or when someone gives up."

"Stupid quitters." Gretchen made a face.

"I don't think that'll happen this time though. They both have too much pride to give up." Vanessa reassured her.

"Yeah, that's good." Gretchen nodded.

"Oh for sure." I agreed sarcastically, turning back to the fight. Even though I knew I could heal one of them from a fatal wound, I wasn't sure how much energy I would have left if I had to heal them both. Suddenly, I wished more than anything that Phineas would come back. He would put a stop to this. What was taking them so long, anyway?

3rd person pov

Mercy found Aria in the room, facing out the window.

"You better have some good news." The girl said without turning around. Mercy grinned.

"Do I ever. You'll never believe who Flare and Baljeat found in the street." She told the leader of her team. Aria turned this time, cold green eyes meeting her best fighters evenly. After a moment's pause, she decided it was worth it.

"I give. Who is it?" She asked. Mercy grinned mischievously, bending her finger tauntingly.

"Come see, boss lady." She giggled almost hysterically. Aria moved faster than usual to the door. Anyone that could make Mercy happy would make a lovely gift for her Master.

**IM SOOOOOO SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT! Sorry especially to vcawarrior, who I promised I would have this up on Friday…the 4****th****. I'm so sorry, I'm a horrible friend. Anyway, I'm sorry again but the wait is gonna be a while again because I have stuff to do and other stories to write and I'm almost out of enthusiasm for this story. Maybe if you guys review nice…but don't bet on it. I'm sorry but I promise I'll do the best I can. Review and comment please.**


End file.
